Behnam Sadeghi | "Spectators are only Spectators": Dastan's Basement

2 - 11 September 2016 The Basement
Overview

A solo digital photography exhibition of works by Behnam Sadeghi at Dastan's Basement

Works
Behnam Sadeghi, Unrirled, 2016
Installation Views
Press release

Dastan’s Basement is pleased to announce the opening of Behnam Sadeghi’s solo photography exhibition titled “Spectators are only Spectators” on September 2, 2016. The exhibition will be open for public viewing through September 11. This is Behnam Sadeghi’s second solo exhibition at Dastan.
Behnam Sadeghi’s photography is a process and research-based endeavor, taking inspirations and influences from a variety of sources including theoretical texts on the philosophy of art and performance. In this series, the artist has worked on readings of Guy Debord’s influential book, “Society of the Spectacle”, and Jacques Ranciere’s “The Emancipated Spectator”, focusing on the concept of separation between the performer and the spectator. Using digital photography, Behnam Sadeghi has been able to capture night scenes.
On his series, Behnam Sadeghi writes: “We enter the show hall, all the lights are on. Only the stage is dark. The hall lights dim gradually. Everywhere becomes dark, now the stage is lit. All the spectators are sitting in their places in darkness, waiting for the show.”
“Separation is the alpha and omega of the spectacle.*”
* Debord, Guy. “The Society of the Spectacle”. Nicholson-Smith, Donald (trans.). Zone Book. New York: 1994. p. 20.